In Another Life
by xxbe-dazzledxx
Summary: Collection of my non-Gruvia short/one-shot requests and or couple week entries. Chapter 1: Natsu x Juvia (Navia Week Day 4: Promises)


**DISCLAIMER:** The names used in this fanfiction belongs to Japanese Illustrator Hiro Mashima as part of his manga series Fairy Tail. The song used and mentioned in this fiction belongs to its rightful owner/s. All other characters and circumstances appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A/N: I drafted this story the first day I heard about Navia Week and saw the prompts. When I listened to the song, Natsu first came to mind. This is how I saw him as a boyfriend. I hope his kind still exists in the world. Hahaha. I was supposed to post this entry on the proper day but then I was away from home and the internet. And my new job took much of my time so Navia week totally skipped my mind. I tried to finish it yesterday and until today. Just one entry though. hahaha. Enjoy!

* * *

 **DRIVE YOU HOME  
** **Natsu Dragneel & Juvia Lockser  
**NAVIA Week 2015 Day 4: Promises  
Song: Drive You Home by Parachute  
Rated: T

 _When it's over_ _and the thrill is gone_ _  
_ _If you come back and you've got it wrong_ _  
_ _You know that you don't have to leave_ _, y_ _ou don't have to go_ _  
_ _When it's over_ _let me drive you home_ _  
_

A skinny pair of arms shoved the back door open. She looked to her left, at the end of the alley, where the busy hour just created a bumper to bumper isle of impatient cars. The noise from the main road and generally, the city, rang in her ears. Juvia used to love it. In her one-door apartment, she would sit next to the window, close her eyes, and let the purr of the busy streets below her calm her and take over.

Not today. Juvia needed a break. A real break. Away from the city's noise, from her perverse boss who kept touching her inappropriately every chance he got. From her pesky landlady, her _always-on_ neighbor who kept her up all night with his nightly sexual activities. She needed to talk to him about it. A crash of a rack of glasses inside the diner pulled her attention back to the door. She ignored it and returned to her quick break.

It's been almost a year. A feeling of melancholy suddenly stung her heart. It's been a year since she left everything familiar to her: her childhood home, her wide backyard, her High School friends who stayed until college, her only remaining family and Natsu. She sighed when his name crossed her mind. It was a good time to light a cigarette but that's one thing she hasn't picked up from the city lifestyle yet. Juvia did not understand why something that calmed you down may end up killing you.

She leaned back on the hand rails and stared up the sunlit sky. There was not a time that she did not think about him. Was he thinking about her too? A dry and bitter chuckle escaped her lips. Why should he? Why would Natsu think about the woman who run out on him and disappeared without even a text message?

Juvia shut her eyes closed. She traced Natsu's stubborn, short hair with the color that reminded her of cherry blossoms. His inviting lips that weakened her knees and made her weep. His firm and protective arms that she loved to be around her. The picture of a butterfly tattooed on his left arm with her name under it that she loved kissing. His smile burned in her memory and even if a year has gone by, the bluenette waitress has not forgotten a single detail of him. She missed him.

Juvia's eyes flew open. The bar manager's aggravating voice pained her ears. He berated the waitress for staying too long outside.

"I'm coming!"

If the irritation was not clear in Juvia's voice, she made it obvious when she slammed the back door behind her.

 _Yes and I lie awake in bed at night_ _  
_ _I picture you when I close my eyes_ _  
_ _I can see you there_ _,_ _in the porch_ _,_ _in the light_ _  
_ _I might never feel your kiss_ _  
_

Darkness has fallen but the city never slept. It was one of the things that attracted Juvia to move here. New York was always energetic, alive and electrified. Juvia was not feeling any of the three. She was down in the dumps. Her whole body was so exhausted from juggling three jobs to make both ends meet.

Juvia Lockser weaved the busy streets of New York, headed to her apartment. She checked her knock-off designer watch. It was already past two. She couldn't wait for the warm bath she was going to indulge herself with. As she passed by an open bar with a live acoustic singer playing, she stopped and watched the soloist strum her acoustic guitar and sang to the tune of an old favorite. Her mind flew to her own dreadnought sitting in the corner of her one-bedroom apartment. She could almost feel the strings against her fingers.

The cold evening breeze slapped at her exposed skin, reminding her of the long walk ahead of her. She tightened her coat around her body, put both her hands in her pockets and continued on her walk. A stung of frustration hit Juvia like a bullet. She left her nameless town for the big city in hopes on pursuing her dream as a singer. A year has passed and she was nowhere near accomplishing it. She hated to admit it but Juvia was beginning to regret her decision of leaving.

When her long-time boyfriend, Natsu, surprised her on her twenty-fifth birthday with a marriage proposal, she immediately packed her bags and jumped on the first bus out of town. She got scared, very scared. The engagement ring made the whole _adult life_ seem so real and Juvia was not ready for that. She was not ready to give up on her dreams. But instead of telling the poor man the truth and talking it out like what couples did, she broke his heart and moved.

Juvia kicked the empty can aimlessly. She did not even bother to see how far it went. The homeless guy sitting in the corner extended his open palm to her, asking money for dinner. She shook her head, apologized and continued.

Under the New York sky, she wondered how he was doing. The phone in her pocket tempted Juvia to dial him but her brain disagreed. What's the point after leaving without a trace for a year? She checked him constantly on facebook and instagram though. He was doing well. He travelled, took over the family business and expanded it. It seemed like he had moved on. Natsu didn't need her. Juvia felt a pang of pain. He didn't need her but she yearned for him.

Juvia turned the corner. She blinked the tears that threatened to fall. How pathetic. She could not remember a day sadness and regret didn't come to haunt her. The bluenette heaved out a heavy sigh. Her spirits were lifted when she reached the final turn to her apartment. She could hear her warm bath calling for her and Juvia hurried her steps to answer. But it seemed like the whole world turned against her when she found all her belongings thrown out on the streets with an eviction notice taped on her luggage.

"Mrs. Ramos!" She climbed the stoop and banged on the door, calling out for the old lady. "Mrs. Ramos, please open up!"

When no one came to answer the door, Juvia proceeded to the window where a single light was still on but as soon as she called out for the cranky, old landlady the bulb shut off. Her hopeless blue eyes brimmed with the tears she has been holding on inside for the last few months. Juvia sat on the stoop, shoulders sagged. She didn't have anywhere else to go and she didn't have any money left. She covered her face with her freezing hands and finally gave in, letting her whole world cave in on her. No matter how much fight she has put up in the last year, tears won in the end.

A sound of a dying engine pulled the sobbing bluenette back to reality. She dried her tears immediately before a neighbor or a co-tenant saw her. When she remembered her things were out the building and into the street, Juvia panicked and scrambled to her feet. She avoided the new-arrived neighbor, embarrassed of her current situation.

"Sorry. I'll move my things away."

"Need a ride?"

Juvia's heavy heart leaped. She knew that voice. She wanted to hear it again. She missed it.

"Natsu?" Her voice was weak and broken.

She heard light footsteps heading to where she was. Juvia froze in her spot. Her lifetime nemesis paralyzing her: fear. She knew every kind of fear but this one knocked the life out of her. Juvia was terrified. Terrified that her mind was playing tricks on her and that if she looked, Natsu would vanish in an instant. That was what she was most afraid of: having her beloved Natsu in her reach, giving her hope, only to be ruthlessly taken away from her. Life was cruel.

 _Baby cause I need to know_ _  
_ _Do you feel it?_ _Can you feel it?_ _  
_ _Baby cause I need to know_ _  
_ _Is it real?_ _  
_

Natsu stopped in front of Juvia. He cupped his lover's grief-stricken face and turned her to face him. It pained him to see her that way. He wiped the tears on her cheeks with his thumb.

"You're here." The words came out like a whisper, so low that Natsu almost missed it.

The young man offered Juvia a small smile, assuring her that he was real and he has come to get her. He breached the distance between them and touched his forehead with hers.

"Ready to come home?"

Juvia smiled through her tears as Natsu's silent promise resonated loud around them, no more words, no questions, no excuses. _I'm here for you. Always._

 _When it's over_ _and the thrill is gone_ _  
_ _If you come back and you've got it wrong_ _  
_ _You know that you don't have to leave_ _, y_ _ou don't have to go_ _  
_ _When it's over_ _let me drive you home_

* * *

I feel like Natsu is the kind of boyfriend who will drive up at twelve midnight just to cheer you up. Hahaha. Even if you've hurt him too many times he would still jump the plane for you. He'll give you some time and space to find yourself but appear in front of you the moment you need him. Natsu is bae. :) This was supposed to be for Day 8: Regrets but I feel like it falls under Promises. Watcha think guys?


End file.
